Tuesday, September 29, 2015

Hey everyone, today I have six polishes to share with you from Smitten Polish's Fall 2015 Collection: What a Punny Autumn and two new charity polishes!

*Press Samples*

Smitten Polish has some awesomeness in store with this collection! It's full of holo and microglitter and just sparkle amazingness! The collection is releasing tomorow (Sept. 30) at 11 p.m. CT along with a limited edition duo benefiting the Black Mamba Anti Poaching Unit (more on that in a minute).

First polish I have to share with you today is Smitten Polish Can You BeLeaf These Puns and it is a stunning brown jelly polish filled with brown and silver holo microglitter. Now being that it is a microglitter polish, it is a bit top coat hungry. I recommend one coat of regular top coat (not quick dry) and then a quick dry top coat to smooth them out! Though this is a jelly base, it applied perfectly in two coats for opacity.

Next we have Smitten Polish Orange You Glad it's Pun-kin Season, which is a gorgeous orange jelly polish filled with orange and silver microglitter. This too only required two coats for opacity, formula was easy to work with. Microglitter finish requires the double top coat method I mentioned earlier. I just love the jelly/microglitter combo and Noelie really has perfected these polishes. They have so much depth and sparkly to them, so lovely!

I also compared this to last year's Halloween release Fire Burn so you could see the difference between the two. Orange You Glad (left) seems to be warmer leaning, with more red in it while Fire Burn has more yellow/gold tone to it. Also, I think Fire Burn does not have any colored microglittler, which makes it more metallic looking.

This next polish had me gasp when I put it on, this is Smitten Polish Something Wicked This Way Plums. This is a gorgeous plum colored holo polish with scattered micro glitter and the formula on this was AMAZING. This is a one coater people. A ONE COATER! So amazing and easy to work with and the linear holo with the scattered microglitter is just so absolutely lovely!

This is Smitten Polish Oh the Hue-Manatee and I just LOVE this name. Back when I was in grade school and I had to write an endangered species report, my animal was the manatee, they still hold a special place in my heart! Oh the Hue-Manatee is a charcol grey linear holo polish with scattered microglitter. To me it seems like this has just a bit more microglitter than Plum does. And just look at this polish, I don't have anything like it in my collection, it just stunning.

Now let's get to the awesome charity polishes releasing tomorrow as well! These polishes are benefiting a great cause and Noelie is a saint for using her talents to do good in the world. Let's see what she has to say about the cause:

Black Mamba and Poach-Busters, a pair of charity polishes to benefit the Black Mamba Anti-Poaching Unit. Black Mamba APU was founded in 2013, and is the first anti-poaching unit of its kind, since the majority of the teams are women. Black Mamba APU focuses not only on the physical prevention of poaching, but also on environmental education within their communities, as well as a social upliftment program that aims to address unemployment and skills development within South Africa.The Black Mamba APU was the recipient of the UN's Champions of the Earth Award in 2015. For more information on this groundbreaking organization, please visit www.blackmambas.org. Black Mamba and Poach-Busters will be available throughout October, and $3 from every bottle sold of each of these polishes will be donated to the Black Mamba APU.

First up is Smitten Polish Black Mamba. This is a gorgeous black jelly polish filled with linear holo pigment and two sizes of holo microglitter. This polish is amazing, it's not just your regular black holo and it goes toward a great cause. This polish was also opaque in two thin coats and the formula was super easy to work with. Just as I've come to expect from Smitten.

And last but not least is Smitten Polish Poach-Busters. Similar to Black Mamba, this polish is a light grassy green jelly polish filled with linear holo pigment and two sizes of holo microglitter. I really loved the finish of these two polishes, all the microglittlers and holo finish give the polish such great depth! Opaque in two coats, this polish was also a breeze to apply.

Which will you be purchasing?! It's so hard to choose, I love them all. But I do have to say Plum is a stand out for me, not just because of the formula but also because of the depth. Oh the Hue-Manatee is also a stunner, I don't have anything like it!

Monday, September 28, 2015

Hey everyone, in anticipation of the ILNPFall Collection release this Friday Oct. 2, I've got the picks I purchased from the preorder earlier this month on the blog today so you can peruse and I can do my best to tempt you.

These are some gorgeous polishes, with a little something for everyone, we've got vamp, we've got flake, we've got multichrome and we have HOLO!

The formula on all of these were top notch, which is what I've come to love an expect from ILNP. All were two coaters and swatched without top coat. So let's get to the gorgeous polishes shall we?!

First up we have ILNP Mountain View. This one I knew I had to have no matter what it looked like. I live right next door to Mountain View (home to Google and many other high techs) and I write about the city for my job all the time, so I knew I just had to have this beauty no matter what! And to my wonderful surprise the color is just AMAZING.

This polish is a darkened teal jelly packed with holo shards and copper flakies, which give the polish such a depth and sets it apart from any old regular darkened teal holo!

Next we have the super vampy and gorgeous ILNP Diablo. This is a gorgeous oxblood jelly polish with the gorgeous holo shards ILNP has offered and perfects. The holo particles in the jelly base have such a gorgeous depth to them, its like sparkles for miles!

This is the delicate ILNP Maiden Lane. This was another polish that pulled me in from the start. It is a beautiful soft ultra holo, which mixes fine holo pigment with the holo shards and just a touch of color for the ultimate linear holo finish. The color of this one is very subtle, but it is a gorgeous lavender leaning grey polish. I say this is the perfect palate cleanser color that defies any season! It's a wonderful transitional color.

Next up is the ILNP Greatness, and boy is this polish just filled with greatness! This is from ILNP Ultra Chrome line, which have the best shifts in my opinion, and this is just the ultimate fall warm hued color shift. When I wore it I felt is shifted mostly between a magenta/darkened red to orange/gold. It represents the changing leaf colors perfectly, can't wait to do some seasonal nail art with this!!!

It is soooo the year of the brown holos and ILNP's addition to the trend is Overnight Bag. The awesome thing about Overnight Bag is, it's brown, but it is also sometimes pulling a vampy reddish tones. It also has the holo shard pieces and other holo pigment suspended in a jelly base creating a scattered sparkle effect. A standout in the collection if you ask me!

And finally, a flakie to match the multichrome shift of Greatness, this is ILNP Glory. I swatched this one over Overnight Bag because I saw it in the fan group and it is what made both Glory and Overnight Bag a must purchase for me! And, after a long day of swatching, this was what I ended up with on my nails so this is my mani for the next few days too. I just love it SO much! This is one coat over Overnight Bag, so these flakies definitely pack a punch. But I also like how they are small pieces, so they don't completely overpower the base, you can still see the beauty of Overnight Bag peaking through.

Now let's dish, what did you get from the preorder? Or have you not purchased yet and are going to during the regular release of the Fall Collection which is this Friday October 2? Either way which are your favorites? I am in love with each one of these and I am so happy I got all of them, and all because I bet on my spouse losing at the casino in Lake Tahoe a few weekends back. Hooray to betting on losing! I win every time!

Hope you all have fantastic weeks ahead of you! I've got the new Smitten Polish collection on Wednesday and a super fun surprise nail art project launching Friday so stay tuned!!!